Steinberg Groove Agent 4 Manual

							Working With Pads
Pattern Pads51
4. Optional: To preview the pattern or style, trigger the pattern pad.
5. Double-click an entry to load it.
Unassigning Patterns and Styles
• To remove the assignment for a single  pattern pad, right-click the cell and 
select  Clear.
• To remove all pattern pad assignments fo r 
 the 16 pads of an agent, right-click 
one of the cells in the corresponding column and select  Clear Column.
Moving and Copying Patterns and Styles
• To switch the content of 2 cells, drag a cell to another cell.
• To copy a pattern or style of a cell to another cell, hold down [Alt]/[Option] and 
dr
 ag the cell to another cell.
• To move or copy patterns or styles to  other groups,
  hold down [Alt]/[Option] 
and drag the cell first over the corresponding group button.
This switches the Overview  p
 age to display this group. Now, you can drop 
the content on the destination cell.
NOTE
• Some agents do not support styles, for ex ample, the Beat Agent. If you try to 
move or copy a style to a cell for an agent that does not support them, the 
styles are automatically converted to MIDI patterns.
• If you load a pattern group that contains st yles into a slot for an agent that does 
not support styles, the styles are automatically converted to MIDI patterns.
Opening Patterns in the Pattern Editor
• To create a new pattern, double-click an empty cell. 
This opens the  Pat
 tern editor where you can enter events to create a new 
pattern.
• To edit an existing pattern, double-click the cell. This opens the  Pat
 tern editor where you can edit the events of the pattern.
NOTE
You can only edit patterns in the  Pattern editor, not styles. If  you want to edit your 
styles this way, you must first convert  the part of the style as MIDI pattern.
RELATED LINKS
Converting Intros, Main Patterns, Fills, or Endings into MIDI Patterns on  page 
109
Pattern Editor on  page 52 
						

							Working With Pads
Pattern Pads52
Managing Pattern Groups
You can save the 16 pads of a group with their patterns and settings as a pattern 
group. This allows you to quickly restore  and reuse particular patterns and settings. 
Pattern groups include all pad sett ings, that is, the settings for Exclusive Mode, 
Jam State , Play Mode , etc.
• To save the current pattern group for a kit, right-click the kit in the kit rack or  th
 e corresponding slot on the  Overview tab and select  Save Pattern 
Group… .
• To load a pattern group,  right
 -click the kit in the kit rack and select  Load 
Pattern Group… .
NOTE
If you load a pattern group, the pad settings are only restored on empty pads. If you 
have assigned a pattern to a pad, your pa d settings are not overwritten by the pattern 
group.
Pattern Editor
In the Pattern  editor, you can create and  edit MIDI drum patterns.
• To open the Pattern editor, click the Pattern tab on the  Edit page.
The editor is subdivided  into several sections:
• The title bar showing the name of the current pattern at the top.
• The toolbar below the title bar.
• The drum sounds list on the left.
• The event display on the right. In the event display, the drum notes are shown.
• The controller lane at the bottom. 
						

							Working With Pads
Pattern Pads53
Drum Sounds List
In the list on the left, the drum sounds are listed. What is shown in the list depends 
on the  Visibility  setting on the  Configuration pop-up menu.
The columns show the key, the pad name, the quantize setting, and the mute status 
of the pads.
NOTE
The column sorting is fixed, you cannot change it.
Drum Sounds List Context Menu
In the column header, the following menu options are available on the context menu:
Select All Notes
Selects all notes in the  Pat
 tern editor.
Clear Pattern Deletes all notes in the  Patte
 rn editor.
Delete Double Notes Deletes all double  n
 otes in the Pattern editor, that is, all notes that are placed 
on top of other notes at  the exact same positions.
Double notes can occur when quantizing, drawing in notes, etc.
Trim Pattern to Start/End Deletes all notes outside the pattern start and end markers.
Duplicate Pattern Copies all events between the pattern  st
 art and end markers and pastes them 
after the end marker. If any events are located after the end marker, these are 
deleted.
Classify Pattern •Use Best Classified 
 Slices: Moves the notes of each class to the 
cleanest sounding slice of the class.
For example, if a sliced loop has clean sounding kicks and kicks with a 
crash or hihat on top,  Use Best Classified Slices  moves the notes to 
the slice with the cleanest sounding kick. This way, the sliced loop plays 
only with the cleanest sounding slices.
• Use Longest Slices : Moves the notes of each class to the longest slice 
of the class.
This is useful if you want to play a  sliced loop slower than its original 
tempo. If you slow down the tempo of a sliced loop, shorter slices can 
produce gaps. But if the sliced loop plays only with the longest slice of 
each class, these gaps are avoided.
On the context menu for the instrument lanes, the following options are available: 
						

							Working With Pads
Pattern Pads54
Select All Notes on KeySelects all notes on the selected key.
Delete All Notes on Key Deletes all notes on the selected key.
Delete Double Notes on Key Deletes all double notes on the selected key, that is, all notes that are placed 
on
 top of other notes at  the exact same positions.
Double notes can occur when quantizing, drawing in notes, etc.
Toolbar
The toolbar contains tools, visibility opti ons, and settings for creating and editing 
your patterns in the  Pattern editor.
Object Selection Use this tool to select drum notes.
Drumstick Use this tool to draw in individual drum notes. To remove a note, click on it.
Erase Use this tool to remove drum notes.
Zoom Use this tool to zoom in on the click po siti
 on. Hold down [Alt]/[Option] to zoom 
out.
Mute Use this tool to mute individual drum notes.
Line Use this tool to enter a line of drum notes or controller values.
Show Controller Lane Activate this button to show the controll er
  lane at the bottom of the editor. In 
the controller lane, you can enter and edit MIDI controller values.
Show Note Length Switches the display of the notes between diamonds and bars. If bars are 
sh
own, you can edit the note length.
Show Info Line Shows/Hides the info line. The info line  shows
  the start, end, length, key, and 
velocity of the selected note event. 
						

							Working With Pads
Pattern Pads55
• To edit a parameter, double-click on the value, enter a new value, and press [Return].
Configuration
If you click the  Configu
 ration button, the following options are available:
Preview Notes
If this button is activated, notes ar e playe
 d back automatically when you 
create or select them.
Auto-Scroll Activates/Deactivates auto-scroll.
If Aut
o-Scroll  is activated, the grid scrolls  automatically during playback so 
that the position cursor is always visible.
Show Pad Colors If this button is activated, the notes in  the
  editor are shown in the colors of the 
corresponding pads.
This allows you to keep a better overview over the different instruments if you 
ar
 e working with sliced loops that have been classified into kick, snare, hihat, 
etc.
Visibility • If you select  Show Al
 l Keys, the list is sorted chromatically, starting with 
the lowest key (C-2) at the top and ending with the highest key (G8) at 
the bottom of the list.
•Select  Show Keys with Events  to show all keys for which MIDI notes 
are available at the top of the list.  Keys that do not contain MIDI notes 
are not shown.
•Select  Show Keys with Pad Assignments  to show all keys for which 
samples are assigned to the pads.  Keys without sample assignments 
are not shown.
Create Notes when drawing Velocity If this is activated, MIDI note events are automatically created when you draw 
in
 velocity events on the controller lane.
To the right of the  Configuration 
 button, the following tools and options are 
available:
Snap
•If  Snap is activated, notes snap to the grid when you create or move 
them. 
						

							Working With Pads
Pattern Pads56
•If Snap is deactivated, you can move notes freely to any position.
Velocity for new notes
Determines the velocity of notes that are entered in the  Pa
 ttern editor.
• Click the button to select one of the 4 predefined velocity values, or  e
 nter the velocity value directly in the value field on the right.
Iterative Quantize On/Off Determines whether the notes are quantized exactly to the set quantize grid, 
o
r whether they are quantized iteratively,  that is, moved half the way to the next 
quantize note value.
Global Quantize On/Off Allows you to select wh ich value is used when Snap is a
 ctivated – the global 
quantize value on the toolbar or the in dividual quantize values for the drum 
sounds.
Record MIDI Enables the live recording of MIDI events.
Auto Quantize If this button is activated, Groove Ag e
 nt automatically quantizes the recorded 
notes according to either the note value set in the Q  column of the instrument 
or, if  Global Quantize  is activated, according to  the global quantization note 
value.
Metronome Activates/Deactivates the metronome for live recording of MIDI events.
Precount Click Activates/Deactivates a 1-bar precount for the metronome for live recording 
o
f MIDI events.
Metronome Volume Sets the volume of the click for live  re
 cording of MIDI events. To reset the 
setting, [Ctrl]/[Comman d]-click the button.
Pattern Length Displays the length of the pattern.
• To change the pattern length, enter a new value.
Start Beat Displays the start beat of the pattern.
• To change the pattern start, enter a  new value or drag the start marker 
in the display to a new position.
NOTE
Notes before the pattern start are not played back. However, they are not 
deleted when you change the pattern start. 
						

							Working With Pads
Pattern Pads57
End BeatDisplays the end beat of the pattern.
• To change the pattern end, enter a new value or drag the end marker in the display to a new position.
NOTE
Notes after the pattern end are not played back. However, they are not 
deleted when you change the pattern end.
Sign (time signature)
Determines the time signature. You can enter the new signature as fractions 
of
 beats.
Creating and Editing Patterns
PREREQUISITE 
• To edit an existing pattern, select the corresponding pad and open the  Patter
 n editor.
• To create a new user pattern, select an empty pad and open the  Pattern 
edit
 or.
PROCEDURE
1. Select the drumstick tool.
2. Enter new notes or modify the existing notes.
3. Optional: Add controller values for  the se
 lected drum sound by using the Line 
or the Draw tool in the controller lane.
4. Optional: Enter a name for the pattern in the title bar.
5. Click the  Save MIDI Pattern  button in the title bar.
RESULT 
The pattern is saved in the  User folder and can now be loaded via the pattern menu 
on the title bar.
Entering, Editing, and Previewing Notes
• To enter notes, select the  Drumstick tool and click in the event display.
To enter a note and specify its velocity at the same time, hold down 
[Ctr
 l]/[Command]-[Shift], click in the event display and drag up to increase 
the velocity, and down to  decrease the velocity.
• To preview an instrument, click in the  Key 
 column for the Instrument.
• To mute a drum sound, click in the  Mut
 e column for the sound. 
						

							Working With Pads
Pattern Pads58
• To change the length of a note, activate the Show Note Length button on the 
toolbar, move the mouse pointer over the border of the note so that a 
double-arrow is shown, then cl ick and drag left or right.
If  Snap to 
Grid  is activated, the note end or  start snaps to the grid when you 
change the note length.
• To move a note, drag it to another position.
• To delete a note, click it with the  Erase tool.
• To cut, copy, and paste notes, use the standard key commands. Notes are pasted at the cursor position.
• To duplicate notes, select them  and 
 press [Ctrl]/[Command]-[D].
Duplicated notes are inserted after the last note of the selection, according to 
the set grid.
NOTE
When entering, editing, and duplicating no tes, double notes can occur, that is, 
notes that are placed exactly on top of other notes. To remedy this, right-click the 
header of the drum sounds list and select  Delete Double Notes.
Quantizing Notes
You can draw notes with a global quantization  grid or with an individual quantization 
grid for each instrument.
• To draw notes with the global quantization grid, set the  Quantize Presets 
pop-up
  menu to the quantize value that you want to use and activate the 
Global Quantize   button.
NOTE
If you activate  Iterative Quantize , the notes are not aligned with the exact quantize 
note positions, but are moved halfway there.
• To change the quantize value for a pad, click the  Q column for the sound and 
select another value from the pop-up menu.
Defining the Length of a Pattern
• To define the length of the pattern,  drag the end marker on the time line.
This is useful if you started with an  empty 
 pattern or if you want to have a 
pause behind the last MIDI event of the pattern.
If you drag the end marker to the left and the bars behind the end marker are 
e

mpty, the length of the pattern is shortened automatically.
If you drag the end marker to the left and the bars behind the end marker 
c
 ontain MIDI events, the length of the pa ttern is shortened only to the bar that 
contains the last MIDI event.  No MIDI events are deleted. 
						

							Working With Pads
Pattern Pads59
You can also set the start and end positions for a pattern manually on the Agent tab.
Defining the Playback Range
You can specify the range of the patter n that you want to be played back.
• To define which part of a pattern is  played 
 back, drag the start and end 
markers of the pattern on the time line.
MIDI events before the start or after the end marker are not played back. They 
a
 re grayed out to indicate this.
Trimming Patterns
If you edit a pattern by changing its length, you can remove the notes and controllers 
that are no longer part of the pattern.
PROCEDURE
1. Set up the pattern start and end to encompass the range that you want to use  for the pattern.
2. Right-click in the column header section of the drum sounds list, and select 
Trim Pattern to Start/End .
RESULT 
All events outside the pattern start and end borders are removed.
Editing Controllers on the Controller lane
The controller lane below the event display shows MIDI controller events for the 
selected drum sound. You can show one MIDI controller at a time.
• To switch to another controller, click the name of the active controller and  sele
 ct another one from the list.
• To draw in controller events for the notes of the selected drum sound, move  the
  mouse pointer over the controller lane, so that it turns into a Draw tool, and 
click.
• To draw in a series of controller events, use the  Lin
 e tool, and click and drag 
in the controller lane.
• To control the open state of the hiha t of 
 an Acoustic Agent, select the 
controller  CC#4 Foot  and enter the controller events.
Line Tool Modes
To select the mode for the  Line tool, click the tool button and select an option from 
the menu. 
						

							Working With Pads
Pattern Pads60
LineIn this mode, you can click and drag to create a straight line of controller 
values.
Parabola, Sine, Triangle, Square In these modes, you can insert a seri e
 s of controller events representing 
different curve shapes.
Paint This mode allows you to freely dr a
 w in a series of controller events.
Recording MIDI Events Live
Instead of entering notes one by one using the tools in the  Pattern editor, you can 
also record MIDI events live.
PROCEDURE
1. To enable the live recording of MIDI events, click the  Record MIDI button on 
the tool bar of the pattern editor or the  Record button in the transport section 
above the pad section.
This enables MIDI recording. The  Record button in the transport section blinks to 
indicate that it is armed.
2. Optional: Activate the  Metronome and specify a  Precount Click .
3. To start live recording, do one of the following:
•Click the Play  button in the pad section.
• Trigger the pattern pad for which  you want
  to record the notes.
• Start playback in the sequencer application.  Thi
 s is especially useful if you want 
to record Groove Agent in the project context.
4. Play notes and MIDI controllers on your MIDI keyboard.
If Auto Quantize  is activated, the notes are recorded at the quantize grid positions.
The recording runs in a cycle over  the whole length of a pattern.
RESULT 
The notes that you play are added to the existing notes in the pattern.
NOTE
If you record notes or controller events over already existing notes or controllers, 
these are replaced by the new ones.
NOTE
Jam Mode and MIDI Record cannot be used together. The  Record button is not 
active in Jam Mode. If yo u activate Jam Mode while you record, recording is 
stopped.